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Director’s Profile

Elzat Eskendir was born in 1987 in South Kazakhstan. He studied Philology and Film Direction at the National Academy of Arts in Almaty, and worked as editor-scriptwriter at the Kazakhfilm National Film Studio. His first short film, Off-season (2016), won a Sonje Award for Best Short Film at Busan International Film Festival 2016, and also won Best Debut at the Kinoproba Film Festival 2018 in Russia. The film was in competition at several other significant film festivals in Europe. Currently, Elzat is working on his first full-length feature film, The Strayed. The Kazakh-Czech co-production is currently in post-production and is supported by the Swiss Fund Visions Sud Est. Production of his new project, Abel, is planned in 2021.

Synopsis

In the early 90s, during the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the property of the state collective farms (kolkhozy) is being divided up and privatized. In a kolkhoz in Southern Kazakhstan, no one believes that the property will be shared fairly, with leaders abusing their authority and allocating the sheep among themselves.
An honest, middle-aged shepherd, Abel, who looked after sheep in this kolkhoz all his life, realizes that in order for him and his family to survive, he will have to take his share of the sheep by any means. He makes a secret agreement with the kolkhoz head, Bolat, to hide a good part of the herd in a remote barn, without entering it into the records and, after the “official” allocation is over, split the sheep between them both. Bolat also agrees that Abel should keep the horse he rides. While the tense process of divvying up the farm is underway, Abel’s older son arrives from the city to take one sheep, violently, for a feast with a group of racketeers to which he apparently now belongs.
After the kolkhoz head lets someone take the horse Abel wanted, Abel decides to keep all the hidden sheep for himself. The kolkhoz head tortures Abel’s younger son to find out where the sheep are hidden and takes them away while Abel is at dinner at his neighbor’s.
The next day brings news of the death of Abel’s older son. Abel and his wife go to the city, and the few remaining sheep that Abel owns are left standing untended in the rain…

Achievements

2024 Busan International Film Festival - New Currents

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